There are many people in our Folsom community that are in need. Some of these folks drop by our church on Sunday mornings and throughout the week. Often they are just looking for a friendly face, a listening ear, and a hot cup of coffee, but we would love to be able to bless them with something they can take with them.

You can help by putting together a Care Bag with some everyday items that we can give to those people who stop by the church looking for help. You can put together a bag on your own, with your family, or with a group of friends! Below is the list of items to put in each bag.

You will find the donation bin in the Disciples Church lobby next to the coffee table.

Disciples Church is holding it’s first Winter Camp at a real youth camp! Students are invited to join us for a life changing weekend at Forward Bible Camp in Georgetown, CA. The weekend will focus on learning to SHIFT with God as He challenges us to take on new adventures and pursue new challenges for His Kingdom. There will be messages from Pastor Dan and Luke the Intern, awesome worship, and of course delicious food, crazy games, and more.

We will be leaving Disciples Church at 5pm on Friday, February 17th, and returning at 2pm on Sunday, February 19th.

Yesterday I returned from what I think was my seventeenth mission trip. Read on, it’s not as spiritual or impressive as you might think. I’ve been on mission trips in several American inner cities, Mormon headquarters, Paraguay, Mexico and Guatemala. Each trip is unique and I’ve learned to expect the unexpected while “on the field.” I can deal with changing schedules, lost passports, delayed flights and getting swindled.

No problema, amigo.

So you’d think by now I’d have the “re-entry” game figured out too, but I don’t. I really, really don’t. I am tired and grumpy, really grumpy. Additionally, at some point today or tomorrow I will cry for no reason – I hate crying for no reason. Then out of the blue I’ll feel overwhelming joy as I reflect on what God let me do and see. Sure some of this re-entry difficulty might be from the travel, emotional exhaustion, long days, new people and foreign languages. But I am growing confident there is more to this, there is something inside me crying out for change and if I will be attentive it could be the beginning of a great renewal in my life.

So I’ve spent the morning thinking about this and below are my rambling thoughts and insights. They are in no way complete or comprehensive. They are really just designed to serve my friends, Beth and Sean, who I travelled with to Guatemala this past week and the others who will go with us in future trips. I share my thoughts here hoping they will serve you as well in returning from your next missions experience.

First, maybe you’re thinking, “I’ve not been on a mission trip in a long time or even ever.” keep reading. I think these reflections apply to you in every aspect of a transforming encounter with God. Whether it’s a theological awakening, a powerful retreat, a life-changing time in worship, impartation of new gifts or even living as a missionary in your neighborhood; these realities will be your experience too. This leads me to my first of three major reflections on re-entry…

A new normal.

Here’s the thing, a mission trip serves as an opportunity to uniquelly live as God designed his church to live normally. So first of all, there’s an indictment on my heart when I return no matter what. All the weird stuff that happened on the mission field, is actually supposed to be normal. And all the stuff that feels so normal at home, was always supposed to be really weird.

Praying for random people on the street, normal.

Giving all the cash in your pocket to a stranger for food or medicine, normal.

Begging the Spirit for His words in most conversations, normal.

Building relationship with people of another color, religion or social group….normal.

But it’s not. It’s not normal at all, in fact most of that is pretty weird. And stuff like consumerism, vanity, selfishness, seeking power, striving for esteem – these things are supposed to feel pretty weird for followers of Jesus.

You just got exposed for a week, now all you want to do is hide.

Mission trips have a way of exposing the best and the worst in a person. The areas of character weakness in you will show themselves, they might be clear ON the trip, or perhaps they won’t bubble to the surface until AFTER the trip. But they will show themselves, and take my word for it, it stings.

Lazy much?

If you are lazy normally, there were likely several moments on your trip when you were blown away by how hard people on the field or in your team worked. “Man, these people work hard,” you thought privately. You probably wanted to hide when there was work to be done on your trip. You might have even justified why you shouldn’t be doing their same level of work. In fact, your first few days back might actually even feed this lazy-bug in you since you have a great excuse to lounge. This is a transforming thing to explore as a disciple of Jesus, so don’t hide. Instead ask the Lord to lead you in a process of rehabbing your lacking work ethic.

What about MY needs?

If you’re selfish normally, the trip might have served as a really positive way of hiding who you really are inside. You simply hid all week by pouring yourself out. It probably felt great, but if you’re truthful with yourself and others, that wasn’t the real you. Now you’re back home and you are feeling REALLY needy: Demanding your way, insisting on certain meals, begging for attention, complaining of physical ailments or annoying team members. It’s a great time to detox a bit from your own selfishness and God is longing to walk you through it all.

Gimme, gimme!

If you pursue power and/or esteem normally, the missions trip – or seventeen to be exact – has likely served as fuel for that fire. Everyone thought you were a rockstar for going and when you arrived on the field they were so thankful for you. Maybe they even handed you a mic and offered applause in gatherings for your willingness to come and serve.

ugh, it’s gross how much you loved it all, right?

Now you’re home and no homecoming party or sign at the airport seemed to match your expectation for a the Heroes Welcome you’ve anticipated. You find yourself thinking, “Why don’t my family and friends see how great I am?” A low-level depression sets in as you go through power/esteem withdrawals and you simply want to hide. You feel the discrepancy between who you were to the people last week and who you actually are to the people in your life. Again, if you lean into this exposing darkness in your heart God will show up and disciple you well.

One week away, now YOU are the moral compass.

“How dare they buy that when kids are starving…” and “What is she thinking, caring about THAT?”

You justify these indictments in your own mind as insightful or maybe even prophetic. But in all likelihood it’s just self-righteousness finding a root in your life after the trip. This is a weird thing for people returning from trips, they…you…and yes, ME, all of sudden believe the whole world has somehow become more sinful than it was seven days ago and we have somehow become far holier in that same span of time.

Despite all evidence to the contrary and the stuff going on in your heart, which we discussed above, you somehow find yourself as the self-proclaimed conscience for family and friends. Listening more and speaking less will serve you REALLY well in the hours and days ahead. It’s like that verse from Proverbs, remain silent and be thought of as a fool, speak up and remove all doubt. Your best contribution in these days is to ask God to create a right spirit within you and seek the road of humility.

Yes, there are moments of detox and rehab that will present themselves to you today and in the days and weeks to come. However, there is also renewal waiting for you if you will lean into the gap between who you appeared to be this last week and who you actually are on the inside. If you are anything like me, you probably just want to hide today. It’s part of why you want to sleep all day, eat too much or slip into chronic sins of escape today. It’s weird, but you might actually feel MORE sinful after your trip than you did before.

All of this provides opportunity for the renewing of your mind and the transforming nudges God has put in your path. You did amazing things for God this past week, yes. Don’t miss out on the amazing things God wants to do for you in the weeks that follow. They will sting a bit, but the fruit they bear will be tremendous.

]]>http://discipleschurch.net/2016/07/30/mission-trip-aftermath-detox-rehab-or-renewal/feed/0Six valuable principles I learned as a restauranteur but forget as a pastorhttp://discipleschurch.net/2014/04/10/sixthingsilearne/
http://discipleschurch.net/2014/04/10/sixthingsilearne/#commentsThu, 10 Apr 2014 22:54:12 +0000http://www.discipleschurch.net/?p=4657My wife and I owned a restaurant for nearly 10 years. She had grown up in that industry and knew it inside and out. I had worked retail a bit and managed a bike shop and knew just about zero – other than I liked pizza and I wanted to be a pastor someday. During that near-decade of restaurant ownership we learned a lot. Though our story is NOT one of the horror stories, we actually had a ton of fun and will likely do it again someday.

It’s been several years since we sold that restaurant to give ourselves fully to the call of church planting. In the time since we sold it, I am amazed at how much I learned there that, if not ignored in church, would make me a far more effective pastor and leader for my church.

So of all the transferable principles I learned owning a restaurant, here’s my top six that might just help you as you lead and pastor your church…

NUMBER ONE: Location, location, location.

This certainly goes for WHERE you meet as a church. I get so sad when I hear a gifted and earnest new church planter who has decided to meet in a warehouse nobody can find or an elementary school buried in a neighborhood. However, this principle also speaks to where you hang out as a pastor. Are you IN the places lost people are spending time? Unfortunately, most of the time I find myself in my office, or out in public with “church folks”.

NUMBER TWO: Greet every person in the building every time you can.

There was nothing more special to our customers at the restaurant than when my wife walked each table to say a simple, “hello, how’s your meal?” She had grown up in that very restaurant and some of those people had been eating in there 20 years. This is key at your church too! Don’t leave this simply to your system of greeters. Be the best greeter of the bunch, work the room, remember names and care genuinely.

NUMBER THREE: Don’t envy winners, mimic them.

We really, truly, honestly did not hate the other competing restaurants in our town. We ate in them, learned from them, networked with them. So, as a pastor find out what other churches are doing in your area that is reaching people and instead of resenting them, mimic their victories. Find a way to use a similar principle to reach your own target group through their hard-earned lessons.

NUMBER FOUR: Give equal energy to reducing costs & increasing sales.

I see about 5 email a week in my inbox from various leaders, organizations and businesses all telling me “Five ways to increase giving.” Don’t get me wrong, increasing giving is wonderful, I am all for teaching my people to be generous and steward finances well. That being said, while we challenge our people to GIVE MORE, we should challenge our staff to SPEND LESS. Some of the best fundraising I see is done through budget cuts and spending freezes.

NUMBER FIVE: A happy staff generally shows up early and stays late.

Ok, I get it, we are not making widgets when it comes to church work. I could not agree more that our work is Kingdom-advancing and is changing lives — a far bigger mission that good pizza or a fast smoothie. However, the principle remains the same and I bet you have oversold the motivational effectiveness of statements like, “…this is Kingdom work” and “…just a few more hours might change a life…”

I don’t know what the carrot and what the stick will be for your church, but motivation through the ideal of transformation is not enough for most staff members long term. The bottom line is, you are just not as great to be around as you think. Furthermore, motivating simply with a stick at everyone’s behind is one of the main reasons there is so much burnout in most churches. So how are you incentivizing your team? What perks are you giving? How often are you honoring them privately and publicly?

NUMBER SIX: Scalability is key.

When we trained a new employee at the restaurant we had pictures of what that menu item should look like upon completion. We weighed every protein portion and measured everything. This way, the trainee could become the trainer. It also meant, that in most cases, if our business had a particularly busy night or went through a sudden growth spurt we could adjust quickly and easily. Scalability was key, because profitability was king.

Are the ministries that support your bottom line of transformed lives built in a way that they could scale in size, scope and volunteer base easily? Would your morning worship gathering function properly and effectively if suddenly 30 new outsiders showed up this Sunday? Is your language such that anyone can understand and everyone can learn?

There’s my top six, but now I am dying to hear from all my business friends…what’s number 7,8,9 & 10 that you can teach ME as a pastor to lead and shepherd you better? Comment below, maybe your pastor will read and implement…

Stu and Jen Streeter, together with a few dear friends, planted Disciples Church in 2009 to reach people far from God or church in Folsom, Ca. Stu serves there as Lead Pastor as well as the founder of Church Courage, a consulting group dedicated to giving church leaders the courage they need through coaching, assessments, giving campaigns and more.